A long-time outspoken
critic of commercial fishing, Pew Marine Fellow (link)
Carl Safina, after a stint with the National Audubon Society, was
a founder of Blue Ocean Institute. As the director opf Audubon's
Living Oceans program, Safina wrote in a column in the New York
Times on April 14, 1998 "Royal
Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines, being good mariners, have announced
that they will deftly steer clear of swordfish; they've canceled 20 tons
of orders"in support of Pew
Seaweb's "Give swordfish a break" campaign (link).
Six months later, Reuters reported "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. , the world's second-largest
cruise line, was ordered Wednesday to pay $8 million for dumping oil and
lying to the U.S. Coast Guard about it, the Justice Department said. The
sentencing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was in addition to a $1 million fine
levied in a Miami court last month. The two court cases were part of an
overall plea bargain by Royal Caribbean that involves five years of monitoring
the line's environmental conduct. Royal Caribbean pleaded guilty in June
to eight felony counts in a pretrial agreement with prosecutors on cases
brought in Puerto Rico and Florida. The Justice Department said even after
that pact there were new violations in July involving tampering with oil
limiting sensors and false statements in an oil log book aboard Royal Caribbean's
Nordic Empress cruise ship. The cruise line said it had reported the July
incident to the government itself after an employee noticed two engineers
tampering with the equipment."(October 14, 1998).

A
Royal Caribbean press release issued on October 1, 1998, stated
"In
the two years since its launch, The Ocean Fund now has donated $1,382,000
on behalf of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises to 22
organizations working to protect the marine environment....Previous recipients
have included The Nature Conservancy, National Audubon Society’s Living
Oceans program and EarthWatch Institute" (link).

A
recipient of Packard funding, Safina's Blue Ocean Institute at it's
2008 gala honored Julie Packard (the Packard Foundation was also
one of supporters of the "gala.") and Pew Fellow
Enric Sala. Among Blue Ocean Institute "partners" ("our partners distribute seafood guides, provide us with in-kind and
financial donations, participate in our product development, or work
with us in our programs") are
Environmental Defense (link),
Chefs Collaborative (funded by Packard - link),
Marine Stewardship Council (funded by Packard and Walton -
link),
Monterey Bay Aquarium (funded by Packard - link),
Oceana (funded by Pew and Packard - link),
Royal Caribbean/Celebrity Cruise Lines (still "good mariners?"),
State University of New York, Stony Brook (funded by Pew - link)
and Duke University (funded by Pew and Moore - link).